One-on-One with Newark Mayor Cory Booker

This week, the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) is launching their inaugural summit on childhood obesity. First Lady Michelle Obama, PHA Honorary Chair, is scheduled to to speak to the conference today about how to end the obesity epidemic. Also attending this week's "Building a Healthier Future Summit" are former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, and James R. Gavin III, MD, PhD, PHA board chair. I had a chance to catch up with Mayor Booker on Tuesday to talk about some of the work being done at this week's conference:

11-29-11 - Mayor Cory Booker wPam by Pamela Kirkland

For more information about the PHA and what's happening in Washington this week, head here.

Wolf Blitzer at the Soul Train Awards (Again)

He made his first appearance last year at the awards show and Doug E. Fresh taught him how to dougie. Well, he was back onstage again this year and...well...you can watch for yourself.




Why Wolf...why?

(video courtesy ABC's Jimmy Kimmel LIVE)

J.R. Martinez to Meet Sec. Panetta

The winner of this season’s MirrorBall trophy, J.R. Martinez, will be heading to Washington soon for a very special meet and greet. According to People Magazine, “Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has invited the soldier and winner of "Dancing with the Stars", to meet him at the Pentagon...During a 10-minute telephone call Friday, Panetta told the dance champion he demonstrated the strength and resilience of wounded veterans. Martinez credited his military training an partner Karina Smirnoff for his performance on the show said a Pentagon spokesman.


(Getty Images)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We here at the Readout are taking a little time away from the blog to reflect on all the things we're thankful for (including all our readers and listeners!) Happy Thanksgiving to you all and can't wait to see you on the radio on Monday!

Minorities Would be Heavily Affected by COLA Cuts

The clock is ticking for the Supercommittee. There's only a few days left until the deadline for the groups of twelve to come up with a comprehensive debt reduction package of at least $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade. Democrats have been uneasy about proposed cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security, but with so little time left, the only thing the "super" twelve can agree on is putting everything (even entitlements) on the table.

One cut under consideration is a $112 billion cut to Social Security by changing how the Social Security cost of living adjustment (COLA) is calculated and reducing benefits. Also said to be under review, raising the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 and increasing out-of-pocket costs for seniors using Medicare.

"People of color, minorities, disproportionately rely on social security because they're disadvantaged in the workplace," says Nancy Altman, co-director of Social Security Works. "Often they don't have private pensions or other sources of income, so they are highly dependent on these benefits. Minority women, especially, are extremely dependent on these benefits."

There was a recent piece in the Washington Post last month detailing just as U.S. demographics continue to change and citing this report:

Maya Rockeymoore, president and CEO of Global Policy Solutions, which put together a new report on the issue with a coalition of left-leaning policy and minority advocacy groups. The report points out that minority Americans tend to rely more heavily on Social Security than white Americans, given the disparities in wealth and income.

The authors points out that minorities are also less likely to have workplace-sponsored pension programs, as they’re less likely to have employers that offer such benefits. And the wealth gap means they have fewer assets to draw upon. (SSI stands for “Supplemental Security Income,”an auxillary Social Security benefit program.)

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (I), pollster Celinda Lake released a poll on Friday showing that a majority of Americans across party lines oppose cuts to Social Security. “We are not going to allow them to cut Social Security,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. said on a conference call earlier today. He conceded the cuts were necessary telling reporters, "we need deficit reduction, but not through Social Security."

(Associated Press Photo)

Friday's Readout

Wolf Blitzer's back to doing the dougie...Marion Barry's on Twitter (oh Lawd!)...and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) may want to consider going into the firefighting business:

11-18-11 - POTUS Readout (Fri) by Pamela Kirkland

The Blitzer video from last year...

Herman Cain Gets Secret Service Detail

Federal agents will now follow the GOP presidential candidate, and former Godfather's Pizza CEO, after a request for increased security was granted. POLITICO reports, in the past, candidates only recieved Secret Service detail after winning their party's nomination.

“We are protecting Herman Cain,” Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said Thursday night. He said the decision was made by Homeland Security “Secretary Napolitano, at the request of the Cain campaign and in consultation with the Congressional advisory committee.”

“The authority was given to the Service to protect Herman Cain [beginning] today,” Donovan said.

And the news has spurred a parody Twitter account. By Friday morning, @CainsSecretService
had appeared on Twitter. Claiming to be one of the agents on Secret Service detail for Herman Cain, the tweets trickled out earlier this morning:

You wouldn't think I'd have to tell this man that "999" is the #worstpassword he could've chosen for his email.

#ThingsYouShouldStopDoingInYour30s: Consider taking a bullet for a pizza guy on a book tour. #CainSecretService

(AP Photo/Telegraph Herald, Jeremy Portje)

Sen. Rubio Says Supercommittee "Colossally Bad Idea"

Florida Senator Marco Rubio doesn't have much faith that the Supercommittee will come up with a plan by their November 23rd deadline. In fact, he thinks the whole concept behind the Committee was misdirected. "I think the Supercommittee is going to go down as a colossally bad idea. They are debating some of the most important public policy initiatives that this country will undertake in our lifetime and it's all being done behind closed doors, in secret, without any public input."

Speaking on "The Morning Briefing" on Sirius XM's P.O.T.U.S. channel, he told Tim Farley that the idea of a "Congress within a Congress" was a "cop-out." "We have to read leaks and media accounts of what they're deliberating. We can't even have a public discourse over these major issues. What we're debating here is the role of government and how to prevent our country from going into a European-style downturn." The Senator continued, "People pay us to deal with these issues and we need to do our job."

However, he's holding on to a (tiny) sliver of hope, "Honestly, I pray that tomorrow morning the Supercommittee comes out with $4 trillion of spending cuts and pro-growth tax measures that put us in the right direction, but I'm not betting on it."

Listen to his full interview Tim Farley:

11-17-11 - Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) wTim (self-contained) by Pamela Kirkland

Tom McMillen: Members Need to Spend More Time in Washington

In the midst of the Supercommittee negotiations unraveling and the partisan bickering that's gripped the Capitol, former Congressman Tom McMillen thinks a little more time in Washington could help ease some tension on the Hill.

"If you go back to Jerry Ford, he said, 'The lack of civility in Washington is due to the jet airplane,'" says McMillen. "The fact that people are jetting in and out of here and spending two day here they don't get to know their colleagues--in particular their colleagues on the other side. More and more families don't live in Washington. It used to be where you kids and your wife got to know other members' families of both parties. It makes it a different environment."

Another major difference McMillen sees between the time he spent in the House and what it's like to work there now is the 24 hour news cycle. He continues, "In this day and age, people are jetting off. There's TV and talk radio that's chewing them up everyday and it's a very acrimonious environment. We really as a nation, have to realize that we're all in this together and we have to put aside some of this partisanship."

(As an aside, I had to ask the one-time NBA player if he'd had a chance to hoop it up with President Obama. He said, it's an open invitation. "Well I've always offered if he ever needed a tall left hander or two to help the President," he told me.)

Tomorrow's Rundown Tonight

A bit late, but here's what's on tap for Thursday's "Morning Briefing."

7:20a ET - Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ/1st) We've been talking all week about the Supercommittee and with the members coming right down to the wire, sequestration cuts are becoming a real possibility. We'll talk with Congressman Andrews, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, about possible cuts to Defense if the Supercommittee fails.

7:40a ET - Dr. Fouad Ajami, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Ajami will join Tim to talk about the growing violence and increased pressed on Syrian President Assad to step down.

8:20a ET - Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) Senators Rubio and Coons, on Tuesday, introduced bipartisan jobs legislation in the Senate--the AGREE Act. We'll talk with him about the bill and why he thinks it's better than what President Obama's proposed.

VP Biden on Regis and Kelly

The Vice President dropped by "LIVE with Regis and Kelly" on Wendesday morning to wish Regis Philbin well on his last week on the air...and to drop of a little present.

Secretary Clinton Photo-Bombed in Honolulu

Occupy Chocolate Rain

You might remember Tay Zonday as the baritone-voiced young man behind the viral "Choclate Rain" video. Well Gawker discovered that he's back and he's got a new song for the 99 percent.

Sen. Orrin Hatch Enters the "Thirty Mile Zone"

Rick Perry-Britney Spears "Oops" Mix

I just couldn't resist doing a little Rick Perry remix this morning:

- 11-10-11 - Rick Perry-Britney Spears Mix by Pamela Kirkland

Today's Readout

With Jon Decker in The Pool...

CNN AM Wake Up with Carol Costello

Tomorrow's Rundown Tonight

Okay...this daylight savings time is killing me. 5:04p ET and the sun was down...but I do appreciate the extra hour of sleep!

Anyway, on to more important topics. Tim Farley's out tomorrow, but the Washington Post's Ed O'Keefe will hop in the host chair. Here's what's on tap for Tuesday's (Election Day Edition of) The Morning Briefing.

6:40a ET - Mark Brewer, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine. We'll kick off our election day coverage all the way up North. This Mainer will talk with us about the different measures on the ballot (including same day voter registration).

7:20a ET - Tom Jensen, Director of Public Policy Polling (publicpolicypolling.com)
So many polls, so little time. Thankfully, we've got Tom to take us all around the country in 10 minutes. On the docket: down to the wire on Personhood Amendment in Mississippi, SB 5 headed for big defeat in Ohio, and Obama under water in Maine

7:40a ET - Thom Mozloom, President, the M Network. Rounding out our hour of T(h)om's, Mozloom and O'Keefe will talk about the latest in political advertising.

8:20a ET - Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO LIVE from Ohio! He's on the ground in the state lobbying against Ohio's Senate Bill 5 before Tuesday's referendum vote.

8:35a ET - Aman Batheja, Reporter "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" and blogger for their PoliTex blog. Texas has 10 amendments to its constitution on Tuesday's ballot.

8:45a ET - Aaron Blake for "The Washington Post's" "The Fix" will jump in.

Tomorrow's Rundown (Friday Edition)

Coming up on tomorrow's show:

7:20a - Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, will join us tomorrow to talk about the vote earlier this week to admit the Palestinian Authority to UNESCO. Afterward, the State Department announced it would comply with an existing law requiring the U.S. to pull funding for international organizations that allow entry to the Palestinians. Will Congress try and change the law?

7:40a - The Washington Post's Dana Milbank will be here as usual and we're talking about Herman Cain. Trust me, you won't want to miss this conversation.

8:20a - Senator Tom Udall (D-Colorado). Senator Udall earlier this week, along with Sens. Durbin, Schumer, and Merkley, announced they would introduce a constitutional amendment to reform campaign finance.

8:35a - Education Secretary Arne Duncan will join Tim to talk about the American Jobs Act. And does he think will Congress finally pass legislation to reform "No Child Lefe Behind?"

8:45a - And it's the first Friday of November, so it's time for jobless numbers. Mark Lieberman, Managing Director of Economics Analytics Research will break down the numbers.

I needed a song about Friday that wasn't Rebecca Black:

Did Rick Perry's Campaign Leak the Herman Cain Story?

Herman Cain's Smokesperson® (registered to Tim Farley) Mark Block thinks so. In an interview with Fox News' Brett Baier, he accused the campaign of spreading the sexual harassment claims in an attempt to hurt Cain's campaign. Block also said that, "Rick Perry and his campaign owe Herman Cain and his family an apology."

The plot thickens...

(Did I mention there's a third female accuser now?)



Update: Gov. Perry fired back in an interview with Redstate.com's Erick Erickson.

Rick Perry, Jon Stewart, and a glass of Pinot Noir

Earlier this week I posted video of Texas Governor Rick Perry's much talked about Cornerstone speech.

While the Governor was very animated during his remarks, Perry told the San Francisco Chronicle that he wasn’t on pain medication, as some have speculated, during the speech in New Hampshire last week.

"The Daily Show" spent a few minutes on Monday analyzing Perry's "over-exaggerated" remarks. Eventually Jon Stewart declared (joking of course) Governor Perry drunk. With a laugh, Perry also shot down Stewart's assertion.

"I wasn't that either,” Perry said, adding: “It's not that I wouldn't love to sit down with Jon and have a glass of wine — if he'll buy."

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Honey Badger Don't Care

And apparently neither does Louisiana Senator David Vitter.

*Sidenote: When internet memes make their way to the Senate floor, they are officially dead

Politico's Click blog found this gem from Sen. Vitter earlier today.

Sen. David Vitter mentioned the honey badger in a colloquy with Sen. Jeff Sessions about the upcoming LSU-Alabama football game.

“I would just summarize our feelings in Louisiana,” Vitter said. “You all have a great team, maybe one of the best Alabama teams ever, but it really doesn’t matter who LSU’s opponent is, because as we say in Louisiana, the honey badger takes what he wants, and we’re looking forward to doing that on Saturday night.”

Vitter’s spokesman explained the reference: “I doubt the senator has seen the original video, but the honey badger meme has become popular among LSU football fans this season. One of LSU’s star defensive players, Tyrann Mathieu, earned the nickname 'Honey Badger' because he’s fearless and takes what he wants on the football field.”

And just in case you haven't seen the original...

Tomorrow's Rundown Today

Want to know who you'll be hearing on "The Morning Briefing with Tim Farley" tomorrow morning? Well, here it is--tomorrow's rundown tonight.

6:20a - John Kirton joins us from Cannes, France. As co-director of the G-20 Research Group at the University of Toronto, he'll talk with Tim about what to expect out of the economic summit.

7:20a - Our behind-the-scenes guru Adam Belmar. The former Bushie and host of PoliOptics (Saturdays at 6a/noon ET on POTUS) will talk about the President's whirlwind trip to Cannes and the campaign's "We Can't Wait" mantra. (Apparently HE can't wait to get home from France)

7:40a - Dr. Raphael Bostic, Assistant Secretary of HUD for Policy Development and Research and architect of the revamped "HARP". If there's no "silver bullet" to fix the housing crisis, how much will the President's new measure help?

8:20a - Steve Bell, Senior Director of the Economic Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, wants the Supercommittee to "Go Big or Go Home." He'll talk with Tim about the Bipartisan Policy Center's recommendations for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.

8:35a - Veteran GOP Strategist Ed Rollins jumps in. Will these sexual harrassment allegations sink Herman Cain's campaign? And what about Congresswoman Michele Bachmann? Does her former campaign manager think she's dead in the water?

8:45a - Senator Tom Carper (D-Deleware). Fresh off the train, Senator Carper will discuss the latest plan to save the Postal Service.

It will be another busy morning that you definitely won't want to miss! See you on the radio.